„Lost a screw? Buy a new derailleur!“

[redfalo]

All right, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do". First of all I have to admit that I´m pretty new in this country so I´m not yet used to the conventions of the British bike shops. But today London´s Bikefix taught me a lesson which I found rather amazing.

On my Grashopper fx I recently lost the chain guide fixing screw of my Shimano 105 front derailleur. It´s a M4x3 screw – nothing particular special, I thought. I went to Bikefix (where my wife and me recently left a few quid since we bought two titanium Bromptons) for buying a new screw. The guy who I think is the owner of the shop, responded: “Lost a screw? Then you have to buy a new derailleur!”

At first I thought this was meant to be a joke since I wasn´t aware that Shimano nowadays offers single-use parts… But in fact he was pretty serious. I almost argued with him because I couldn´t believe that they really do not sell any spare screws. The guy explained to me that they were offering 10 different derailleurs and this alone would drive them crazy. [I´m afraid that my response (“I thought this is why they are a bike shop”) was a little bit rude… ]

Is this common here? In Germany every decent bike shop sells spare parts like the screw I need and it really does not make any sense to replace the whole derailleur (this would be much more expensive and much more work…) Tomorrow I´m going to try my luck in a screw shop. Does anyone has another idea where to get such a screw in central London?

It cannot be true that I do have to import it from Germany...

Cheers
Olaf

 

[gaz]

that guy sounds like a knob. all of my local bike shops would have given me a screw, and the evans at west croydon have given me the very screw you are talking about for my front de-railer.

 

[Tollers]

Don't suppose you're an old whit Gaz?

 

[gaz]

Don't suppose you're an old whit Gaz?

lost me on that

 

[Tollers]

That'll be a no then. Sorry, just noticed you were from south croydon so was wondering where you went to school.

 

[gaz]

I see now, no i went to royal russell.

 

[Dan B]

If Bikefix is local to you, then the clerkenwell nut & screw shop (I forget the exact name but it's something like that) is not that far away either. On Clerkenwell road, on the south side near the top of the hill between Farringdon and Greys Inn Road

That said, I've only been in there once and they were quite stupendously unhelpful, so this is not a recommendation just a "why not try". Personally I'd try ebay

 

[irw]

I wouldn't take the chap in this shop as an example of most...When I was on a tour a few years ago, I lost a screw from my bike- I went past a Halfords a couple of hours after I'd realised and even they were good enough to just dig one out of a box of bits for me and send me on my way!

Ian

 

[Tynan]

I think it's the law that as long as you know the right name and size of the part you want, the mechanic gives it to you for nothing

if you don't they suck teeth and have to order it in

 

[iLB]

I think it's the law that as long as you know the right name and size of the part you want, the mechanic gives it to you for nothing

if you don't they suck teeth and have to order it in

hmmm me wonders if this would work for, ooo i don't know, say a specialized tarmac SL3 (56cm)

 

[BentMikey]

I'm not that surprised that a bike shop wouldn't carry such a part, but it's also not hard to find something like that!!

I don't have a very high personal opinion of bikefix, btw.

 

[Over The Hill]

Surely a bike shop will have a pile of old parts kicking around from the mugs who have ordered the whole deralleur that a screw could be taken from.
My guess is with it being a London shop the owner gets away with that sort of trick.

 

[mr Mag00]

had a v similar issue a few years a go witha locking nut on a shimano spd. the shimano service centre said they didnt have them in stock, despite my arguing that as service centre they must have parts for shimano goods No was the reply they could not sell it to me, buy new or get the part serviced. they are now closed!

 

[redfalo]

I think it's the law that as long as you know the right name and size of the part you want, the mechanic gives it to you for nothing

if you don't they suck teeth and have to order it in

Well, I not only knew exactly what screw was missing (M4, lenght: 3mm) but also had Shimanos offical technial documentation (http://techdocs.shimano.com/media/t...-FD-5500_5503-1737A_v1_m56577569830612175.pdf) with me.

I went to the Clerkenwell screw shop this morning (the Bikefix guy mentioned them but they were closed yesterday evening) and got a M4 screw which is 2mm longer. This should do the trick. (Paid 2 quid for 12 screws, not a real bargain but next to nothing compared to a new derailleur). Just for curiosity afterwards I to Cycle Surgery on Penteonville Road - they didn´t have the right screw either.

Thanks a lot for your comments!
Cheers Olaf

 

[ChrisKH]

I'm not that surprised that a bike shop wouldn't carry such a part, but it's also not hard to find something like that!!

I don't have a very high personal opinion of bikefix, btw.

Likewise. I went in there once thinking seriously about buying a new bike and went out having decided that I definitely liked the bike but I wasn't going to get it from there.

I have had better customer service from Cycle Surgery in Spitalfields and my LBS who have given me odd bits and pieces for free.